


Orichalcum and Ultraviolet

by forgeturself



Series: What We Could Have Become [3]
Category: Vampyr (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Canon Dialogue, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Human!McCullum, M/M, Non-Consensual Blood Drinking, POV McCullum, bossfight yay, but not really, but okay this is the point where McCullum hates Reid the most, hopefully not Enemies anymore in the near future to just plain Enemies, very little/next to no McReid showing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27951734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgeturself/pseuds/forgeturself
Summary: He was pretty sure he’d given the cursed thing absolutely no reason to believe anything it said could possibly sway the hunter to spare it. Certainly not calling him by his first name.
Relationships: Geoffrey McCullum & Jonathan Reid
Series: What We Could Have Become [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875805
Comments: 14
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

Grinding his teeth and digging his nails into the palms of his hands, McCullum was seething with anger. At the leech, at the goddamn doctor, most of all at himself. How could he have been so stupid, so arrogant? He’d thought himself immune against the blood sucker and its antics at faking humanity. Instead the hunter had failed to question it when the vampire oh so conveniently had killed a handful of Skals and the Ichor. He thought the leech had been _helping_ when all it had been doing was clean up after its own mess. How could he have made such a ridiculously obvious lapse in judgement?

And the doctor? He wanted to believe, the vampire had Swansea under its influence, forced him, extorted him, threatened him, whatever. But Swansea was obsessed and deluded with the whole idea of eternal life and superhuman abilities that Ekons had going for them. He dismissed the countless lives these monsters took like one could weigh power against mass murder and come to the conclusion that it was worth it. Really, it was a miracle Swansea hadn’t snuck into the lair of his newest pet by daylight and just right out bitten it to get its cursed blood. There was no question, the doctor would have no qualms at all about experimenting on his patients and turning them into monsters. With or without a vampire to conspire.

McCullum could only hope that he wasn’t too late. That he could still fix his mistake. For that reason he was lying in wait in the attic of the Pembroke Hospital listening to the gears of the elevator turn as it slowly ascended. So far, the leech had nicely followed the false trail of blood like a hungry mutt and was about to walk right into the trap. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips. If he won this fight he would be one step closer to ending the vampire epidemic that was about to wipe out the rest of London’s population where the war had failed. No more sickness, no more bloodshed, no more mass graves. At least not on this kind of extinctive scale.

The first thing that threw him off was the carelessness the Ekon displayed at it stepped out of the elevator. McCullum hadn’t chosen an obvious position to wait for the leech, but he hadn’t bothered hiding himself either since he’d expected the thing to just snuff him out by his heartbeat anyway. At the very least it must have smelled the acid sting of Orichalcum powder in the air. To his surprise it walked right past him with barely a glance around the room, neither a weapon drawn nor blood magic poised. No matter, if this negligence was due to the beast’s arrogance or its fear for the good doctor, McCullum was all too happy to exploit it.

He suppressed a quiet chuckle as he pressed down on the little apparatus in his hands. With a quick flicker the room went ablaze with light, and while the hunter just slightly blinked the glare from his vision, the vampire was on its knees screaming, writhing in pain. Sizzling and burning, the skin flaked of its bare face and hands revealing webs of smouldering flesh underneath. And if that wasn’t a sight for sore eyes. Stepping out of the shadows behind the leech, he pulled down the shutters of the elevator, like he was literally snapping his trap shut. He didn’t try to tamper the smugness in his voice as he talked over the groans and whimpers of his prey: “Ultraviolet curtains and Orichalcum powder.” The irony wasn’t lost on him, and hopefully not on the Ekon either, especially that he would kill it on the Brotherhood’s beloved ‘neutral territory’. He tipped his head to the side with a pleased grin while he circled the beast. “Doctor Swansea’s always been a resourceful bastard. I bet he never told you he had this installed in case of a vampire attack. Says a lot about how much he trusts your kind.” At first he had thought Swansea to be stupid enough to be completely drawn in by the beast’s silly masquerade, but seeing this, McCullum had to hand it to the man, that this was the kind of preparedness and healthy paranoia of vampires that would make any member of the Guard of Priwen proud.

“What have you done with Edgar?” The leech grated out between a flinch of pain and another. For all that it was down on the ground and being burned alive – no pun intended - while they were making polite conversation, it sure had enough spite left in it to sound menacing.

“Don’t worry,” he sneered in response, “we don’t kill _humans_. Even if your friend is deserving of a little punishment for what he did.” Swansea’s ruthlessness and disregard for human life was really in no way inferior to that of vampires. McCullum certainly wouldn’t shed a tear if something happened to him. The doctor had only himself to blame.

The leech lifted its head with difficulty but didn’t quite manage to meet his gaze when another spasm wrecked its body and almost threw it back to the floor. “What are you talking about?”

It was one thing to know the atrocities the monster had committed, but to hear it play innocent felt like it was laughing in his face. “We know everything!” He stopped his circles in front of the beast and leaned in with his teeth bared. “Swansea and you created this bloody epidemic!” With red-hot anger at the forefront of his mind, he almost didn’t notice the lights flicker out. “You aimed to unleash another Disaster, just like William Marshal did!”

While it tried to pick itself up it had the gall to lie to his face trying to pass itself off as some kind of would-be hero: “No, I’m trying to put an end to it, just like you are.”

With a determined step forward to cut off its ridiculous attempt at deception, McCullum grabbed the vampire by its jaw and forced it to look into his eyes, delighted when he felt his fingers dig into fresh wounds. “You’re its progeny, aren’t you? Where is the monster hiding? It’s still in England, isn’t it?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Geoffrey, please listen to me!”

And that was the second thing, that threw the hunter off and made him even more angry. Its audacity and recklessness that could only be founded in utter stupidity. He was pretty sure he’d given the cursed thing absolutely no reason to believe anything it said could possibly sway the hunter to spare it. Certainly not calling him by his first name. Stepping back he withdrew his hand and let the beast crumble to the ground. “No tricks! That shit won’t work on me.” Despite the confidence in his words, he knew he’d have to end this quickly. He didn’t actually know how powerful this leech was. He’d had good reason to have made the trap for this creature as elaborate as possible. “We found proof in the theatre. Doris Fletcher was your first experiment. Now where is Marshal? Speak!” If it would only tell him that, he could put an end to this charade of a conversation and move on to the fun part where he’d cut out its heart and left it to die in a puddle of stolen blood.

For a second the lights flickered back to life when he pressed the button again, only to fizzle out shortly after and leave the two of them in the semi-darkness of a few scattered candles and lanterns. The vampire that had caved under the brightness quickly began to recover and McCullum couldn’t help but laugh. “So much for modern technology. Time for the tried and true.” It looked like he would get the fight he was itching for after all. Honestly, it would have been boring to just finish it off while it was helpless and weak on the ground. Throwing the electronic device away that had failed him on a whim, he pulled out a flask while he watched the creature slowly get to its feet. “Do you know what this is, beast? This is a drop of King Arthur’s blood. The blood of a _true_ defender of Britain, stronger than your evil powers.”

It took really nothing more than a sip to empty the bottle. Still, even the small amount burned down his throat and quickly spread heat through his whole body like a wildfire. He had to turn his back on the beast to hide his startled expression when his insides began to feel like they were melting. Part of him knew it had been an insane idea and just plain disgusting to drink whatever foul-tasting liquid it actually had been, but there was no other way to win against an Ekon that had displayed such terrifying ferocity and blood lust in slaughtering dozens of its own monstrous kind. There was no going back now anyway. He’d just have to deal with whatever was happening to his body and hope it would make him powerful enough to walk away from this fight victoriously.

“This is ridiculous. We’re losing precious time.” He heard the leech protest and forced himself to school his expression into a grim smile before he turned around to face it again. The third thing that threw him, was that the vampire looked as if it didn’t want to fight, not out of weakness, not even out of fear. Its eyes met his, clear and earnest in its pleading like it honestly believed they could still find common ground.

“True enough,” he responded with a taunt. “Soon, I’ll bring your head before your coward of a father.” McCullum had become worried the beast might try and make a run for it after all, but the moment he drew his longsword, it stepped back into a fighting stance and pulled out its own weapon. Violence was the only common ground he allowed himself to have with monsters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still no love lost between them ;_; stupid canon
> 
> I do prefer human!Geoffrey, so I'll probably diverge from canon with the next chapter. As far as I'm concerned he might as well have bluffed and just drunk a cocktail of coffee, whiskey and a bit of cocaine.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now with Graphic Depictions Of Violence! yay  
> I wasn't sure if I'd just gloss over the fight or not, but here we are... with a fight, so... have fun.

“If you’re so innocent, why does simple light burn you so much?” He couldn’t help but sneer as he switched on the blinding lights yet again. If the damn things would only stay alit instead of randomly fizzling out after some measly seconds. After a few times where flames hat sprouted from its skin and burned along its arms, the leech had become too good at darting around the radiant circles to suffer any more damage. On the bright side, the creature had made it so much of a priority to doge the light, that it was easy to get a few hits in if McCullum timed it just right. With a practiced hand he quickly reloaded his crossbow and loosened a few bolts in the direction the beast was trying to duck away to. Most of the darts only zipped through a mass of swirling shadow, shattered through a window or splintered a wainscot panel, but ever so often McCullum was rewarded with a grunt of pain and a stumble in the leech’s step when one hit its mark.

Maybe it was time to switch it up and get in close with his longsword, give the Ekon a hard time to doge anything at short range. Another round and he was out of bolts anyway. He quickly took stock of his injuries and though blood covered his torn clothes, his Dayfield vest was still holding together and he didn’t feel any pain, so he figured his wounds couldn’t be too bad. Whatever effect Arthur’s blood had, it was still pumping a kind of sharp energy through his veins that he knew wasn’t normal this far into a fight and was doing a good job at keeping him on par with the vampire.

The next time his opponent came at him, McCullum gripped his sword and met its claws with steel under the creature’s pained expression as the blade tore deep gashes into its flesh with ease. Red gushed from the fresh wounds and splattered the wooden floor beneath. “Come on, Reid. Try something else.” McCullum jeered as the leech jumped out of range in a blur of smoke. He almost laughed out loud when the beast bared its fangs at him with a growl. Finally, the thing was behaving a like a proper leech. No more playing the nice doctor, only a rabid animal begging to be put down. “Close your eyes! This is gonna hurt.” He spat out and activated the ultraviolet lights just before he charged at the leech. While it narrowly dodged the first swing it didn’t have so much luck on the next upper cut. Accompanied by the sound of ripping cloth and a wide spray of blood, the sword carved deep into its chest, cleaving a few ribs on the path to its lungs. A gurgled scream was torn from the Ekon’s throat and from one second to the next it had retreated to the other side of the room where it almost crashed into a pile of crates lining the walls. The distance between them gave it enough time to draw on its accursed magic. An ominous glow of red light flashed over its wounds and though McCullum couldn’t see it he knew all his hard work had been undone in a mere heartbeat.

If he hadn’t been used to this kind of tricks, he’d probably drop the fight against a creature that had such a frustratingly unfair advantage through its freakish abilities. But the hunter had nothing if not a dogged determination to kill off every last one of their kind and that line of thinking had kept him on the right path since the days his family had been slaughtered by these monsters. His spit out a mouthful of blood and wiped his sleeve over his lips. With a sharp-edged smile and a muttered “Priwen prevails” he threw himself against the beast, single-minded on cutting it to pieces.

The hunter couldn’t remember the last time a fight had taken so much out of him. Each clash left him gasping for air and reeling for balance. Blood was everywhere, splattered on the ground, against the walls, soaked into their clothes, a bitter taste of iron in the air, at the roof of his mouth. His weapon lay heavy in his hands, blood running down along the blade made the grip slippery and wet. The cuts and bruises he’d been able to ignore earlier were now wearing him down with every movement like weights on his limbs. A gash along his brow left a steady stream of blood trickle into his eye and blur his sight with red.

It was a solid comfort to see the leech struggle just as much, with unsteady steps and a glazed expression on its pale face. It had been a while now since it had last used any of its blood magic, from the open wounds peeking out from underneath its torn clothes, it looked like it didn’t even have enough left to heal itself. It wouldn’t take much to finally put an end to its miserable existence, and then the hunter would be able to rest.

McCullum flashed his bloodied teeth, ignoring the twinge of pain from a cut along his cheek, and loosened the grip on his sword. Slowly advancing on the Ekon he let the tip of his blade scrape over the wooden floorboards. He’d apologize later for the inappropriate handling of his weapon. For now, he needed the leech to become weary of him and retreat until there was no room left to run to. As soon as its back hit the wall, the hunter ducked low and charged with his sword pointed right the beast’s chest. The moment he reached it he didn’t wait for the vampire to react and twisted his body to turn the thrust into a swipe with one fluid motion. He knew his opponent would sidestep which would bring the beast directly into the path of his blade. What he didn’t expect was no attempt at dodging at all. His attack went wide and left him stumbling when it didn’t encounter the calculated resistance.

Later he’d wonder if the beast had resolved itself to being impaled on his sword in order to get close enough for a counterattack. Now, he didn’t have the capacity to waste his thoughts on what could have happened. He had barely time to react when cold, dead hands wrapped themselves around his shoulders from behind, crept up the column of his neck and bent his head to expose his throat. His blood turned ice-cold underneath his overheated skin as he desperately struggled against the hold with his bare hands, his weapon discarded and forgotten on the ground. Blindly he grabbed behind himself, catching a piece of cloth or a handful of short hair and pulled and yanked. But it tore under his clumsy fingers or simply slipped through, slick with blood and sweat.

When teeth broke skin and pain bloomed in waves from the side of his neck, darkness pushed in from the corners of his vision and light-headedness threatened to overcome him. He could feel the creature’s tongue press against his throat, lapping greedily at the liquid flowing from his open veins. Clammy fingers closed around his jaw and their sharp claws pierced through the soft skin almost absentmindedly. His heart stuttered in his chest and a weak growl spilled form his lips, betraying his fear. What little strength he had left after the strenuous fight quickly faded with his helpless struggling and every mouthful of blood the vampire swallowed. Soon enough his legs gave out beneath him and the only thing keeping him upright was the monster’s iron grip.

At some point his eyes must have fallen shut, for it was dark around him when the world finally slipped away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so next chapter poor Geoffrey still has to go through a whole conversation while he's bleeding out. Good thing there's a helpful doctor conveniently close by.


	3. Chapter 3

A loud ringing filled out his head and suffocated his thoughts. The world around him seemed almost soft, covered in a sort of fuzzy texture, except for all the points where it came in contact with him. Something rough and hard was pressed against his cheek, a weak curl of his fingers and his nails scratched over wet, half-rotten wood. His skin was covered in sweat and felt feverish, too cold and too warm at the same time. The air was thin in his lungs, his shallow breath a rasping sound. His mouth was dry where his tongue stuck to the roof and a foul, metallic taste clung to his gums that made him want to throw up.

He barely recognized the quiet groan as his own when his eyes slit open. His surroundings only gradually came into focus while streaks of shadows slowly receded. With his sight returned his memories. McCullum was lying on the floor in the attic of the Pembroke Hospital. He’d tried and failed to put down the Ekon that had wreaked such havoc on London. Now, there was no one left to stop it. He didn’t think himself a saviour, never put that kind of presumptuous responsibility on his shoulders, but he couldn’t escape the feeling of guilt that bore down on him when he thought of all the suffering the vampire would spread over England.

Maybe the Brotherhood would crawl out of their hiding place and confront the beast. That his brain could come with such a ridiculous idea showed him quite plainly how he was losing his grip on reality. It startled a laugh out of him, that he immediately regretted when it made his lungs seize up in a painful cough.

A shadow fell over his eyes and it took him far too long to flinch away from the hand reaching for him. Dread filled his stomach when he realized the monster was still here in the same room with him, right next to him. Despite the pain spiking through his exhausted body, he managed to pull himself to his knees with worryingly clumsy movements while his mind was racing to recall any weapon he might have left. “We are the guardians of justice. Priwen shall prevail.“ He ground out weakly, more for his own ears than anyone else’s. He wasn’t alone in this fight. The leech would kill him now, but Priwen would continue to hunt it and make its existence living hell. One lucky day it was bound to make a mistake, then the Guard would pin it down and finish it off.

Unexpectedly, the vampire backed off. “You can’t accept the fact we’re not enemies, can you?” The vampire declared and it was infuriating how it sounded exasperated like it was annoyed to find itself again and again at the receiving end of the hunter’s hostility.

McCullum was all too familiar with the arrogance of vampires, welcomed it even, but this one really took the cake. “We always have been and we always will be.” He slowly explained to the beast before him that obviously lacked a basic understanding of its nature. “Of all the evils that threaten mankind, your kind are the worst!” He was a bit proud how his voice sounded much stronger than he felt, though it would do nothing to fool the creature. His head was still pounding and his sight more than a little hazy. But if it thought it could exploit his weakened state and compel him to agree to some bat-brained pact, McCullum would be happy to dispel its misconception.

“I’m not saying we could be friends, you and I…” There it went again with the odd hopefulness in its voice and its bizarre ideas. The poor thing probably didn’t know the meaning of the word. After all, it’s not like it had any friends. “But perhaps we could collaborate to put an end to this epidemic?”

Clearly, the leech wanted to use him for whatever purpose in its nefarious game, most probable to get the Guard off its back. Like there was any chance the hunter would agree with its shameless proposal and let the monster roam the streets freely at night. He’d fallen for its trickery one time, when the creature had killed the Ichor, and he’d promised himself he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. “Never.” He plainly refused. “We are Priwen! We do not negotiate. We do not compromise.”

“There is no way you’ll ever let me be, McCullum. You’ll always hunt me down, won’t you?” Finally the beast showed an ounce of sense, even if it was just stating the obvious. The childish indignation with which it said those words almost made the hunter laugh.

A long-suffering groan slipped from his lips instead. “There is no escape, leech.” He replied and didn’t bother anymore to hide the tiredness in his voice. “Kill me now, for there is no way you can sway me to your ideals.” At the very least he wouldn’t have to deal with its ludicrous attempts at deception any longer. His was an empty threat anyway and they both knew it. He didn’t have the strength left to hunt the creature, never mind kill it. If the thing would just leave him alone, he could lie down and bleed out in peace.

Slowly it stepped in close and the hunter cursed his sluggish reactions when he tried to back away too late. A strong hand gripped his jaw and forced him to lift his head. “That’s where you’re mistaken.”

The sudden proximity and the darkness in the creature’s tone made his skin crawl. So, this was the point where it had decided to stop playing with its food. “What do you mean?” How easily it could kill him. Extend its claws, break his neck. Hell, it could just have another snack if it wanted, suck him dry this time and leave his corpse to rot.

“I’ll spare you, McCullum.” At least no first name basis this time. “I’ll offer you the mercy you never offered me.” The leech had to be having a laugh at him. Or maybe ‘spare’ translated into ‘turn you into a voracious monster’ in Ekon vocabulary. If the beast was stupid enough to turn him, McCullum would make sure it would come to deeply regret that decision at the end of a wooden stake to its heart.

“What is this ruse?” As soon as he’d asked the question, he wanted to kick himself. All he achieved was encouraging the leech to chatter on about its perceived moral high ground. There were exactly two ways this would play out and both of them ended with him dead.

The creature released him and he almost collapsed, weak and numb as his limbs were. “This is no ruse, McCullum. This is me letting you go.” It reached out with its hand and the hunter took a moment to understand the gesture as an offer to help. “After all, you and I are both trying to save this poor country in our own way.” He felt like he was dreaming, or maybe he was already dead, when he took its hand. But honestly, he was a bit curious how far the beast would go to deceive him.

There was just one problem McCullum had been trying to ignore for a while now. The moment the leech pulled him up, he screamed out in pain. Vertigo hit him hard and the world was swallowed up by blackness when all at once every wound protested the movement. He could feel skin tear and bones grind against bones inside his body. The smell of blood was suddenly heavy in his nose and the ringing in his ears was back with full force.

By the time he’d blinked the shadows from his vision he was back on the cold floor in the attic and to no one’s surprise there was no sign of the vampire. McCullum was about to die because he picked a fight with a doctor in a hospital. The irony wasn’t lost on him. He wrapped his arms around his aching torso and curled in on himself as he suffered through waves of pain and waited patiently for it all to end. A heavy sigh freed itself from deep within his chest. “I’ll kill you, Reid. Next time we meet, I’ll end you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, of course Reid comes back with some morphine and a blood bag, but I've left the safe waters of canon and I don't exactly know where to go from here. I'll continue this once I have an idea how to actually get them to like each other.


End file.
